Black Bean & Mushroom Veggie Burgers

These babies definitely intimidated me, and I have many lessons to learn for the next time around and yet I am still going to publish this because they were delicious.

I have wanted to make my own veggie burgers for quite some time but never actually did because I was severely insecure about it. I honestly mess up burgers EVERY time I make them(ironic that I am going to attempt to make turkey burgers this upcoming weekend). I either make the burgers too dry and I have to drench the end result in mayo just to prevent choking to death OR I make them so moist I cry as I watch the burgers fall through the BBQ grate……EVERY TIME one of these scenarios happens. Inevitable.

You can imagine my anxiety when placing the task of homemade veggie burgers on myself. Narcissist.

I am going to let you know the improvements I would make for next time. I absolutely would not call these a fail…or even close to one and I would never post it if they were. I would bury them in the garden outside and deny the entire event ever took place.

Now, my suggestions. For starters I would not use refried beans again. Bear with me and all vegetarians/vegans/anyone that has made homemade veggie burgers before you may laugh at me. I honestly thought it would work! And, it wasn’t bad but I know it is what contributed to the burgers being “too mushy” in the end. My thought process was as follows: Hmmmm I need to get black beans, cook them for a while, and then mash about half of them…..well for once in my life I had no black beans in the pantry but I did have black refried beans….same thing right? They are cooked, partially smashed and that was the exact game plan anyways. I think this is really the only thing that could be improved in this recipe is to try the real….fresh black beans being half smashed, because everything else was truly wonderful, and the beans were amazing, just the burgers definitely 100% had a “refried bean” smooth and soft texture in the end. Not bad, but not the ultimate end game for a burger that wants to mimic meat.

NEXT!

Mix all this up in a bowl!!

Form some patties out of your mixture.

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Processed with VSCO with a6 preset

I chose to fry these in olive oil and butter because I knew the minute I felt them they were too soft, and I almost cried. Really. Almost. I stuck them in the freezer to firm up before frying, browned on both sides, and waited til they were hot all the way through because remember these are not vegan they do have egg and cheese. These did not fall apart while cooking which that alone was a major accomplishment. They did however smoosh down upon slapping them between buns and eating. Like stated before, they were not too mushy, too soft, or gross, but I know not using refried beans again would be a major improvement.

Does that little fleck of food in the corner on the plate bug you? It bugs me so bad! But this was the best picture!

I love when I learn something from the process, because in the end that is all that really matters. Always challenge yourself and learn even in cooking.